Mount Maunganui coastal pathway: Cracks appear in path opened last December

Work is under way to repair cracks in a $7m coastal pathway in Mount Maunganui that opened in December.

About 20 cracks have appeared in the concrete of the 3km path that runs along Marine Parade from Hopukiore (Mount Drury Reserve) to Oceanbeach Rd.

Tauranga City Council senior project manager Deon Connoway said remediation work had begun to repair the cracks along the path.

”These types of defects are not unexpected on a concreting job of this size.”

The work would take about two weeks to complete and involved removing the cracked concrete and replacing it with new concrete, he said.

The repair was being done by Fulton Hogan, which built the path, under the existing contract.

The cost of repair would be covered by Fulton Hogan, Connoway said.

”The path has been really popular with locals and visitors alike and the repairs were delayed until this week to avoid any disruption during the peak summer holiday period and April school holidays.”

Local Democracy Reporting asked Fulton Hogan why the path had cracked and what the cost of repair would be.

A spokesperson said they would not be making comment at this time.

The Marine Parade pathway is a continuation of the existing Main Beach boardwalk, which was built in 1999.

Construction of the 4m-wide path began in April 2023 and it opened in December.

It cost $7.1 million to build and included more than 1km of timber boardwalk, 10,184sq m of concrete, 41,080 screws and 123,240 nails.

It was designed to be used by everyone, including pedestrians, cyclists, users of wheelchairs and mobility devices, skaters and scooter riders.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.